Community Device Limit; Automatic Discovery Of Candidates And Members; Community Names; Hostnames - Cisco Network Assistant Getting Started Manual

Planning a Community

Community Device Limit

The combined number of Catalyst switches, Cisco access routers, and PIX firewalls in a community cannot
exceed 40. There are no limits on individual device types. There is no limit on the number of Cisco Aironet
Access Points.
Note
If the limit of 40 devices is exceeded, you cannot manage a community. You need to remove devices so
that the total is not more than 40.
There is no limit to the number of communities that Network Assistant can manage.

Automatic Discovery of Candidates and Members

Beginning with the IP address for a starting device and the port numbers for the HTTPS and HTTP
protocols, Network Assistant uses CDP to compile a list of community candidates that are within
four CDP hops of the starting device. Network Assistant can discover candidate and member devices
across multiple networks and VLANs if they have valid IP addresses. See the
Characteristics" section on page 4-1
to be discovered.
Do not disable CDP on candidates, members, or any network devices that you might want Network
Note
Assistant to discover.
You can edit the list of discovered devices to fit your needs and to add them to the community. If Network
Assistant does not discover a network device, you can manually add the device.
For instructions on adding discovered devices to a community or manually adding devices to a
community, see the

Community Names

When you create a community, Network Assistant requires that you assign a name to it. The name can
contain up to 64 alphanumeric characters and is not case sensitive.
When you select a name in the Connect window and a cluster and a community share that name, Network
Note
Assistant connects to the community.

Hostnames

You do not need to assign a hostname to a community member, and Network Assistant does not assign
one by default. However, Cisco IOS assigns the hostname Switch to switches without a hostname.
Therefore, you might want to assign hostnames to switches to avoid confusing them.
Getting Started with Cisco Network Assistant
4-2
Even though the devices in a Catalyst 3750 switch stack function as a single switch, they count
as individual switches against the combined limit and individual device limits.
"Manually Adding Members" section on page
for a list of requirements that network devices must meet in order
Chapter 4 Planning and Creating Communities
"Candidate and Member
4-4.
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